Stars in the NE

It's been awhile. It is so blasted light polluted in my neighborhood of Mission Texas I get depressed whenever I step outside at night. Needless to say I don't step outside at night very often if I can help it. Tonight was an exception though. It has been very clear and not too warm so I thought I'd see what I could see. I had been inspired by an earlier episode of Startalk that featured an interview with a Hawaiian navigator (Nainoa Thompson) and the voyages of the Hokule'a. Mr Thompson navigates in open ocean for 1000s of miles the old way - without instruments of any sort.  After setting up my trusted reclining observing chair, my 10x50s and SkySafari in my lap, I waited to see what might reveal itself as I allowed my eyes to accomodate. It was 7:30 and about as dark as it was going to get in my driveway. Capella soon popped out low in the northeast. I watched for Mirfak and eventually was able to make it out above and to the left of Capella. Once I had Mirfak, or Alpha Persei, in my sights, I pulled up the binocs for a closer look. "Not bad for Texas" was my first thought. I was able to pick out nearby HR 1059, a dim magnitude 6 star, but not any of the magnitude 7 stars in the field of view. Undaunted, I searched for the Queen of Ethiopia about 20 more degrees to the north. I was able to eventually make out 4 of the 5 bright stars of Cassiopeia unaided. I wasn't able to see the 3.3 magnitude Segin although I did finally convince myself that I could occasionally glimpse it. Bright Vega and dimmer Deneb a bit farther to the West completed the night's arc across the sky from East to West looking North. A limiting naked eye visibility of magnitude 2 sure makes for a dull night sky but it is what it is and I tried to make the best of it. I finished off with a win by grabbing a glimpse of our neighboring galaxy. Andromeda was easy enough to find using the stars of Cassiopeia as pointers and surprisingly bright in my 7x50s. It was close to the zenith at 8:00 so at least there wasn't quite so much murk in the way. It was enough to cheer me up and at least the mosquitoes weren't hungry tonight!